Gilmer County vs Wirt County

A side-by-side comparison of Gilmer County and Wirt County: population, income, housing, and more.

Gilmer County and Wirt County are counties in West Virginia. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Gilmer County has the higher population (7,376 vs 5,131 in Wirt County). Wirt County has the higher median household income ($54,688 vs $50,991 in Gilmer County). Wirt County has the higher median home value ($112,800 vs $83,300 in Gilmer County).

Population, income & housing

	Gilmer County	Wirt County
Population	7,376	5,131
Median age	40.7 yrs	46.2 yrs
Median household income	$50,991	$54,688
Median home value	$83,300	$112,800
Median gross rent	$764	$575
Housing units	3,118	2,723
Homeownership rate	76.4%	86.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.9%	16.2%
Unemployment rate	8.1%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Gilmer County	Wirt County
Population	8,041 → 7,376 (-8.3%)	5,798 → 5,131 (-11.5%)
Median household income	$42,636 → $50,991 (+19.6%)	$46,048 → $54,688 (+18.8%)
Median home value	$93,300 → $83,300 (-10.7%)	$95,800 → $112,800 (+17.7%)
Median gross rent	$584 → $764 (+30.8%)	$454 → $575 (+26.7%)

Gilmer County

Population

8,0417,376

Median household income

$42,636$50,991

Median home value

$93,300$83,300

Median gross rent

$584$764

Wirt County

Population

5,7985,131

Median household income

$46,048$54,688

Median home value

$95,800$112,800

Median gross rent

$454$575

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Gilmer County	Wirt County
Under 5	3.7%	4.7%
5 to 17	12.1%	16.6%
18 to 24	11.7%	5.9%
25 to 34	12.7%	11.0%
35 to 44	15.3%	10.7%
45 to 54	13.7%	12.8%
55 to 64	13.0%	16.0%
65 to 74	10.3%	13.7%
75 and over	7.6%	8.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Gilmer County	Wirt County
White (non-Hispanic)	79.1%	96.9%
Black or African American	14.3%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.2%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.8%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.9%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	3.6%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Gilmer County	Wirt County
No high school diploma	18.5%	11.1%
High school graduate	47.3%	47.9%
Some college or associate's	14.3%	24.8%
Bachelor's degree	12.0%	11.5%
Graduate or professional degree	7.9%	4.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Gilmer County	Wirt County
Drove alone	73.8%	77.0%
Carpooled	15.5%	10.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	5.8%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.8%	9.9%
Other means	2.2%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Gilmer County	Wirt County
1-unit, detached	69.3%	72.3%
1-unit, attached	0.1%	0.2%
2 to 4 units	1.5%	3.2%
5 to 19 units	1.8%	0.2%
20 or more units	0.1%	0.1%
Mobile home & other	27.1%	24.0%

Poverty & households

	Gilmer County	Wirt County
Poverty rate	12.9%	18.3%
Average household size	2.40	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	33	32
Median year structure built	1974	1986